Can a Geopackage file be created by Spatialite

Question

Starting with the Spatialite application, can a new Geopackage file be created, or is Spatialite only capable of working with existing Geopackage files?

Answer 1

Thanks to @user30184 and ultimately Sandro Furieri in this post:

Creating a crystal-clear GPKG not containing any spatialite specific table is really simple.

You simply have to avoid using either spatialite CLI or spatialite GUI because both tools will always create a new DB-file specifically inteded for SpatiaLite. Anyway a third option exists, and is straighforward.

A) edit the SQL scriptd prepare by Jukka add the following statement before the very first line: SELECT load_extension('mod_spatialite');

B) now you simply have to execute from the shell: sqlite3 test.gpkg

this way you'll get an absolutely clean GPKG

So the answer in the strictest sense is no.

EDIT 1:

In place of the script mentioned in the quote above, there is a Spatialite function gpkgCreateBaseTables that appears to initialise the requisite Geopackage metadata tables.

EDIT 2:

The following commands generate a clean GPKG (using SQLite 3.17.0 and mod_spatialite.dll 4.3.0):

C:\>sqlite3.exe SL3_Test.gpkg
sqlite>SELECT load_extension('mod_spatialite');
sqlite>SELECT gpkgCreateBaseTables();
sqlite>.exit

Answer 2

You can create a new GeoPackage with Spatialite. All you need to do is make sure you create the required MetaData tables (and triggers to populate them).

There must be a gpkg_contents table and a gpkg_spatial_ref_sys. You also need to set the application_id to GPKG.

However in most cases it will be easier to use a library or tool designed to do it, one is available in most languages.